


Into The Woods

by evilseok



Category: NCT (Band)
Genre: Haechan | Mark Lee, Lee Donghyuck | Haechan-centric, M/M, Mark Lee (NCT) is Whipped, Minor Dong Si Cheng | WinWin/Nakamoto Yuta, Witch Lee Donghyuck | Haechan, markhyuck, nomin
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-11-23
Updated: 2018-11-23
Packaged: 2019-08-27 23:18:20
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,958
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16711903
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/evilseok/pseuds/evilseok
Summary: Lucas warned Mark not to go into the woods. Mark didn’t listen. Donghyuck just wants to learn about the boy he sees in his dreams, and Jeno just wants to join in on the fun.[witch!haechan]





	Into The Woods

Never have I ever had a warmer sensation such as this one. It made me feel at peace, a sense of pleasure that seemed foreign to me. It engulfed all my senses and thoughts, my entirety. I felt as if I were the lightest thing in the world, floating into the unknown.

My chest started to burn, but I didn't care. I felt no pain. His delicate expression, his enhancing smile, his warm aura...all of it was too addictive. Even when his image began to fade, his affects on me lingered liked an electrical current. 

As my eyes fluttered open, adjusting myself to the familiarity of my room from the deep sleep I had locked myself in, a sudden adrenaline struck through my veins. His image replayed in the back of my mind like a recording that couldn't be stopped.

 That was the first I saw him, but it wouldn't have been the last. He would reappear in my dreams regularly from that point, nameless and unfamiliar, and it would stay like this for a millennia to come.

 

 

⁺ 　　˚.

 . * ✦  .   Into The Woods  　 ⁺ 　.

　 . 　 　 ⁺⁺ 　　˚

°.°

 

 

The noise was almost unbearable. It thumped against his skull like a drum for every moment he tried to concentrate on anything but the pain he felt. Donghyuck thought that by now he would've been used to it, yet it only got worse throughout the years. He couldn't make sense as to why or what significance it held, but for years it had never bothered him as much as it did recently. Donghyuck felt  as though these headaches were a sign of bad omens waiting to come, that he had gotten himself twisted in a jinx that would surely cause him utmost trouble.

 

"You've had them for so long that it can't be some regular curse." Jeno had told him, lounging against the furniture of Donghyuck's home as he watched the boy pace back in fourth while reading off an old book. "Are you positive you didn't piss anyone off back then?"

 

"I had long separated myself from my council by the time they started." The boy stated dully, not focusing his attention on the other. With his gloved hands, he turned the page in one of his books. "Aside from that, I doubt it's any affliction caused by a curse. It's far too tame."

 

Curses were something Donghyuck knew much about, knew of their extents and abilities. They often start off quite light, undetectable before quickly and surely taking grasp of one's life. Somebody under the affliction of a curse are usually doomed for eternity, it carries on with a person until they die unless they find a way to break it, and although it's usually rare, they can be broken. Powerful and terrible as they are, they are not to be cast on a whim. It takes a Witch's utmost strength and energy to create one, some either dying or injuring themselves in the process. The largest side effect of a curse is that it inevitably reduces a witch's lifespan, how much depends on the curse itself. Knowing well of these dangers, not many Witch's take it upon themselves to cast these spells. The only way someone would try would be if the person they were trying to curse was worth the effort, in which Donghyuck, was not.

 

Forget it. The boy wasn't getting anywhere. With a slightly irritated huff he closed the book before tossing it across the room, the sound of the book hitting the wall resonated through the small room. Jeno said nothing at first, simply observing his friend for a few moments, finding the right time to speak. Within a few small steps towards his desk Donghyuck sat at his seat, a disarray of notes and pages torn from other texts laid in front of him. "You're free to speak your mind, you know." the boy said with slight sarcasm, tired of the quietness that fell on the room. Jeno shrugged. "You seemed to be pretty content wallowing yourself up in misery."

 

Donghyuck snorted, taking in the older's joke before reclining his head slightly so he leaned back against his chair. The pain was still there, almost starting to numb the longer it stayed. The headaches usually did last longer than two, sometimes three hours. He counted every second to every minute only to realize that he had been subjected to a five hour period of pain, longer than any other he had before. The reoccurring headaches weren't always as fierce as they were now, it had only been about twenty years ago when they had gotten worse, where they began to stretch out into longer periods of time. He was beginning to give up on finding the cause after so many years had passed, there seemed to have been million of possible explanations but the Witch just couldn't find the right one.

 

"Rather than stressing yourself out, perhaps you should start asking the Coven?" Jeno asked, leaning closer towards Donghyuck. "While I don't doubt your...resourceful abilities, it is possible that you'll have a higher probability of learning the meaning of your headaches from the minds of others."

 

Donghyuck stayed silent, and so the boy continued. "Luna may have a remedy...in terms of Herbology she's practically the best, ah, Yoona is also strong in cleansings so perhaps-"

 

"Why are you so keen on having the council associate themselves with me?" Donghyuck spoke, his voice only lightly above a whisper. "You've been keeping this facade for weeks now. Speak to me honestly starting today."

 

Jeno, although caught, wasn't taken aback at the Witch's bluntness. He seemed to have been expecting it more than anything, and so when the boy took out a small black card before handing it to Donghyuck, he knew exactly what he had suspected. Turning the card over, gold words shown in his eyes:

 

**THE COVEN CALLS** **UPON YOU**

~~~~You have been requested to be shown present at the first meeting of the lunar year.

 

 **Failure** **to** **attend** **will** **be** **deemed** **punishable**.

 

Best Regards,

 

 _Kim_ _Yerim_

 

 

A bitter taste infiltrated Donghyuck's mouth as his eyes looked over the words. Without other thought he let the invitation float to the floor before crushing it with the heel of his boot. "162 years later and she thinks she can summon me on a whim?" He asked with annoyance trickling from his voice. "Can't say I know what she's expecting."

 

"She's expecting you to be there." Jeno said. "Now that Yerim carries The Magician card she's planning on having you make your debut back into the Coven." Donghyuck cocked his eyebrow, turning his chair to meet Jeno's eyes. "Ah, so I take it the entire community is aware of this decision then?" Just as he expected, his friend's face faltered. "As far as i'm aware, she's only told me."

 

"Of course." He muttered. "What good would my presence be? Do you think they'd be thrilled to accept me into their community?" From beneath his gloves, a burning sensation began to throb in his veins, thankfully the fabric offered the needed cool that kept him in check when he got too angered. Jeno noticed this and was unable to hide the obvious pity that painted his features. "...What about the dreams? Have they come back at all?"

 

Donghyuck's mind reverted back to his memories, back to a certain boy he saw in his dreams. It was obvious that the dreams he had correlated with his headaches since he had miraculously stopped seeing this nameless boy smiling at him around the very same time the pain had increased. "Not once." The Witch mumbled. "Not in a while."

 

More than the headaches themselves, it were the dreams that irritated him the most. It was a face he was both familiar and unfamiliar with, someone he felt he knew but was also a stranger. As much as he hated to admit it, Donghyuck had grown rather comfortable with those dreams. After getting used to the unusual presence, seeing this person made him...calm. Light. A state of serenity he had not felt in a very long time. His dark hair and deep dimples whenever he smiled were details that became imprinted in his mind, an image so vivid it could've easily been tattooed in the inside of his skull. On the day the boy had suddenly stopped appearing, a pain different from his regular headaches filled his senses. It was similar to a withdrawal period when he had to return to his regular life before that person showed up. Despite twenty years later, his face was still fresh in Donghyuck's mind.

 

Jeno, who had been silent for a few moments, sighed softly before looking up at the Witch. "You know...Baekhyun's back. If you're still curious about what everything means, you'll have an opportunity to ask him."

 

This catches the boy's attention. "The Dream Witch? He's actually back?"

 

Jeno nodded, a slightly knowing smirk threatening to show up on his face. "Even more of a reason to show up for the meeting. We don't when he'll disappear again, so asking him may be your only choice if you want to pursue whatever is going on."

 

Swearing softly under his breath, Donghyuck felt ashamed he had let himself walk into such an easy ploy. Yet he knew the boy was right. Dream Witch's were uncommon, it wasn't as if he could easily get another chance anytime soon, and the boy was beginning to grow very impatient. If anyone could tell him the meaning and reason for his dreams, and perhaps even his headaches, it would be Baekhyun. Despite this, uneasiness refused to loosen its grip around the boy's throat. His eyes traveled down to his lap to where his hands laid. The brown leather gloves felt as if they were a part of him, as if they were attached to his skin itself. Gingerly he pulls each one off before setting them on his desk to stare at the burns that covered his hands. "I won't be welcomed back." He said dryly. "I'll most likely be shunned."

 

Jeno smiled, resting his chin on his fist as he stared at the Witch. "That's true...though I don't think that's ever going to stop the great Lee Donghyuck from getting what he wants."

 

For the first time since their entire conversation, Donghyuck smiled. Even for the slightest bit of comfort, the boy was thankful for his friend. "Besides," he continued, pointing at himself with his own smile. "I'll be there to bite off an arm and a leg for you if desperate times come to desperate measures."

 

The Witch rolled his eyes. "If you did that then I think you'd only get the two of us in even more trouble, and then I'd have to get you out of the doghouse."

 

With a light laugh Jeno smoothly hopped onto his feet before turning to Donghyuck. "I'll have to go and let Yerim know to expect your attendance. She'll be happy to see you."

 

"I can't say if it's too early to say the same. Just be quick."

 

"Of course. I'll be as quick as a Raven and as nimble as a Fox." Jeno's eyes dilated as his irises burned yellow, signifying that the Anamalgon meant it quite literally. Slipping back on the brown colored gloves, by the time he looked back up Jeno had gone, a black feather seated carefully on his windowsill.

 

Now alone with nothing else but his thoughts, Donghyuck thought back to the boy from his dreams. A part of him wondered if he would ever see him again, if he would ever come across that face outside of his mind.

 

He thought and he thought, and the thumping on his skull progressed.


End file.
